


Premier (the Red-Carpet Remix)

by kitsunesongs



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: First name The last name Director, Gen, Konan and Nagato are huge Gutsy Ninja fans, Movie Shenanigans, Premier - Freeform, Rain, Shikako getting dressed up, The Directors name is The Director, The Gutsy Ninja, The Gutsy Ninja Movie, the Red carpet is a unique experience for Ninjas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-07-11 16:35:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19931140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitsunesongs/pseuds/kitsunesongs
Summary: For the DOS Rolling Remix. The Gutsy Ninja Movie has been made, and if Shikako wants to have a look at the information gathered about Rain (and Akatsuki) from it, she needs to do a mission for Tsunade first...





	Premier (the Red-Carpet Remix)

I was in my room, working on a new seal that I’d gotten the idea of from the sealing group when Shika cracked my door open and stuck his head in. He eyed the mess my room had become, with the various notepads and stray pieces of paper and a set of books I’d been using as reference piled up haphazardly on the floor, then looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I stared back evenly and refused to blush.

This was made slightly more difficult by the fact that I, like most of my work, had also migrated to the floor at some point, and was therefore looking up at him, that I’d fallen asleep over a page with wet ink and therefore had it on my face along with a red line from the edge of the paper, and that my hair was a mess, but I somehow managed it.

“You have a mission,” he finally said, after the staring contest had gone on for long enough to become awkward.

“With you?”

He shook his head. “Nah – don’t know any details, but Tsunade wants you in her office.”

I ignored his concerned look and silent request for more information as I fixed my hair and washed my face – not out of any spite, but because I didn’t know why Tsunade would call me either.

Then I headed to the Hokage Tower.

I got there just in time to see Tsunade haul a limp Kakashi-Sensei in through the window. I paused a moment, blinked, and decided I didn’t want to know, before following them in through the window – hey, she’d done it first, and it was a lot faster then walking up the stairs inside the tower.

I slipped in, closing the window politely behind me, and headed over to Sasuke, who was leaning against the wall and shaking his head. Kakashi-sensei had been dumped on the floor, and apparently decided that he was just going to stay there and not move until someone (probably Tsunade) made him, though he had pulled out an Icha Icha book to read.

I leant next to Sasuke and watched as Tsunade sat down at her desk, looking at us evenly. It hadn’t escaped my notice that she’d summoned all the members of Team 7 that were currently in Konoha here, and I kept my face blank to hide the slowly rising anxiety in my gut. Had something happened to Naruto?

Or…was it the war? Were we being deployed? I’d been expecting Kakashi to be sent to the frontlines again soon, though of course I’d enjoyed having him home, but if we were going with him…

I was shaken from my thoughts as Tsunade sat up straight and clasped her hands together on the desk. “Nara, Uchiha, Hatake – I have a mission for you.”

Her face was blank, serious – and then her lips quirked, just slightly, and I relaxed. So, not a bad mission – and certainly not a deployment. No, it was something that had amused Tsunade, and that was why she had called us here.

On the other hand, we were here for something that had  _ amused _ Tsunade.

I started getting anxious again.

“What’s the mission?” Sasuke asked, standing stiffly next to me. I knew he’d seen the lip quirk as well – hell, Tsunade had probably done it on purpose, to make us less nervous about the wrong things, and more nervous about the right things. She wanted us to squirm, not be actually afraid, after all.

“You three…” Tsunade said slowly, drawing it out, “Will be…Going to see a movie!”

She chucked a mission scroll at us – or rather, at Kakashi-sensei, who didn’t bother to catch it and letting it thump off his head to fall to the carpeted floor anticlimactically.

Tsunade’s eye twitched.

I made the sensible decision to head off the Hokage possibly throwing the desk at my teacher, and went and picked up the mission scroll, opening it up.

“A C-rank?” I asked Tsunade, scanning the details. We were in fact going to see a movie – specifically, the premier of it. Not as bodyguards or anything – we’d been invited.

I checked the title of the movie – just as I’d thought. The Gutsy Ninja. “Oh, they made it!” I smiled.

Tsunade looked at me, brown eyes sharp. “The director insisted that you and your team come – he said you were the one who inspired the movie in the first place.” She wasn’t asking a question, but I straightened up and put my hands behind my back.

“During the Mission to protect the Prince of the Land of Moon on his way home,” I reported, steadily not thinking about what had happened once we’d gotten there, “We ended up seeing the new Princess Fuun Movie, where the Director had included shots of us fighting – and, other things,” like the song, so embarrassing, “and when he saw me he said he’d like to do more movies involving Ninja – so I gave him a copy of Jiraiya-sama’s first book.”

Sasuke made a strangled noise behind me. What – oh.

“It’s not one of the Icha Icha ones!” I assured him hurriedly, probably blushing like mad from how hot my face felt, and idly wishing the ground would open up and swallow me. I was a ninja, I knew Earth Walking - I could probably manage that. “It’s the first one he wrote, The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja – it’s nothing like his, er,  _ later  _ works – it’s really good!” I spoke quickly, words tripping over themselves in my mouth as I gestured, trying to get them – mostly Sasuke, honestly – to stop looking at me like that.

I pulled a copy out of hammerspace. “It…it asks a lot of questions about what it is to be a ninja, about war and peace and hatred and forgiveness and hope – it’s, it’s a really important book.” I trailed off. Then I perked up again, delivering one last point. “Also, I’m pretty sure Naruto was named after the main character.” Kakashi-sensei, though still on the floor, briefly tensed before relaxing again, probably at the oblique mention of Minato. Probably wondering what I knew about how Naruto had been named.

_ Everything, _ I silently did my best to telepathically project at him,  _ and if Jiraiya-Sama hasn’t told him by the time he comes back, I will.  _ I’d made that decision a while ago.

Quite frankly, while I respected Jiraiya-sama a lot, both as a spymaster and a sealmaster and a ninja (and even, when it came to the Gutsy Ninja, as an author) – I did not respect him as a godfather.

Sasuke came forward at that and stood next to me, peering down at the book in my hands. I looked up at Tsunade. “I thought - I thought it was important, and that more people should know about it, and – I don’t know, it just came to me when the Director was talking about wanting to do other movies about Ninjas. And…” I hesitated a bit here, but if it had worked and we’d gotten info from Rain out of this, then I wanted access. I might be the only one who would know what to look for. I continued. “I also figured it was a good excuse to get some information on Rain, especially since I’m still curious about how the hell Salamander Hanzo was deposed, and why no one knew.”

I looked at Tsunade – Tsunade, of the Legendary Sannin. Who had been given that name for their power and teamwork by Salamander Hanzo – simply for  _ surviving _ him during the second shinobi world war. She looked serious.

Kakashi-Sensei stopped playing puddle on the ground and got up. “Hanzo the Salamander was deposed?” he asked.

“Ibiki told me about that,” she said in answer to his unasked question and my look. “We couldn’t completely trust the word of a missing ninja, of course, but he’s stuck with that through interrogation, and some other sources have agreed too. Apparently, Rain is now under the leadership by a ‘God’ and an ‘Angel’ who cast down Hanzo – and his entire family. Even the children.”

I swallowed. By cast down, of course, she meant killed.

Like the Uchiha clan.

I didn’t look at Sasuke, but I knew we were both thinking of small bodies in small beds and cribs, and a red moon.

“And we did in fact get some information from the film crew being allowed in – though not much. I suppose,” she said, eyeing me narrowly, “you want to look over it?”

I nodded frantically.

“I could allow that,” she leaned back in her chair, “provided you work with the already established team and inform me of anything you think might even possibly be important.”

I nodded again, actually meaning it. If by chance I did find something, I would bring it to her, even if all I could use to tell her why was ‘intuition' – at least she’d know about it, if I went somewhere else following up a lead.

I didn’t want another Hot Springs. Not again. Not ever.

“Alright,” she nodded briskly. “I’ll give my permission,” she suddenly grinned, shark-like. “You can start after the premier.”

Oh. Right.

“Oh, and - you three?” she grinned again. “You’re representing Konoha here. Wear something nice.”

Something nice. That meant hair, a dress, shoes, possibly some makeup though I could probably get away with minimal or none at my age…I sighed.

Time to go find Ino.

*

Ino had been ecstatic at getting to dress me up for a red-carpet premier, and so had mom. Sasuke had snickered at me when I complained to him, so as vengeance I’d pulled him into it to, pointing out that if he was left to his own devices he’d just wear some old Uchiha imono or something, which had resulted in simultaneous horrified gasps from Ino and mom and him being forced to join our tour of the shops.

Sasuke had been figured out pretty quickly – he’d said no to a modern suit, and insisted on a full on old-fashioned, with hakama and gi and haori and his family mon printed on it, in shades of navy blue and sober grey and black, and once they’d gone to a tailor – an little old man who had probably been tailoring in Konoha since the village was formed – and gotten his measurements done and the different fabrics picked out, all he had to do was wait.

For me?

Well, I’d been quizzed, and after being asked what I was going for – “well I’m supposed to be representing Konoha, so something that makes me look mature and powerful?” – any specifics I wanted – “something I can move freely in” – and any preferences for colour or cut – “uhhh…green?” – all that had been left to do was sit while mom and Ino bustled around picking out dresses and then standing and trying them on where I would only wear them for a bear second before they were dubbed Not Good Enough. This one was too long, this one too short… made me look too young, made me look too old, made me look  _ pregnant _ – how? – had sleeves that were too long (I was informed that the seals on my arms looked incredibly impressive, and pointed out that I was a seal master, so for the sake of Making Konoha Look Good it was decided I would be bearing them freely) and whipped off to be replaced by new ones.

Sasuke sent me sympathetic looks the whole time, and went and bought me some dango while I was occupied being a living mannequin, and so was forgiven for the snicker.

Eventually, exhausted, I put my foot down.

The dress I was wearing was spring green, in a flowy pleated fabric that looked vaguely ancient greek, with a halter neck and a gold rope tied and crossed from under the bust until around the waist where it tangled like a girdle. It was flowy and loose enough that I could move in it and green and showed my arms. There. Done.

I crossed my arms and glared at Ino and my mother until they sighed and agreed – and let out a sigh of relief as I was able to take off the dress and put my regular clothes back on – only to be informed by a grinning Ino that now we needed to shop for shoes. And decide on a hairstyle. A makeup.

I was strong, and did not let out a whimper – and moreover, I was a good, gracious teammate, and let Sasuke escape, before going to my doom.

Tsunade had better appreciate this.

*

The day of the premier arrived. It was being held in the capital of Fire, which was close enough to Konoha that we hadn’t needed to camp out in the capital, simply travelling there early enough that we got there well before noon, where we met with the Director and his crew, who had been ecstatic to see us – and been able to spend most of the day exploring, which was nice. Eventually though, night fell, and we got ready.

My hair was down in soft waves, and I was wearing strappy sandals with no heel – something else I’d put my foot down on with Ino – and a coloured lip balm. I still had issues sometimes, looking at the girl in the mirror and seeing me – but if I put that aside and just appreciated the picture said girl in the mirror made, it was a nice one.

I went down to the lobby of the hotel where we’d agreed to meet up with the Director.

Sasuke looked like something out of the Warring Clans Era, noble and distant and – trying very hard to pretend he wasn’t noticing the group of sighing, giggling girls standing in the corner of the lobby who were sending him looks, blushing, and then going back to giggling behind their hands at each other. I smirked at him as I walked over and entwined our arms.

“Not a word.”

“I didn’t say anything!” I protested my innocence, barely holding back laughter.

We headed over to where the director was, meeting up with his film crew and Kakashi-sensei.

Kakashi-sensei…looked like Kakashi-sensei. His hair  _ may, _ possibly, have been brushed – but I wouldn’t bet on it.

At least he wasn’t reading Icha Icha?

The Director – I really needed to learn his name at some point. Possibly I had and it had just flown from my memory, being as he was simply so much The Director that the idea of him having a name separate from that seemed odd – smiled, gushed at us, and lead us out into flashing cameras that I did my best not to flinch at, and went by as fast as I could, eventually settling in the soothing darkness of the movie theatre.

The movie itself was…an experience.

If anyone had asked me what I thought the Director’s version of the Gutsy Ninja would be like, I would have pictured a blockbuster – explosions, brave speeches, a square-jawed hero. Something like the cheesy Princess Fuin movies. Instead – well, if the Princess Fuin movies had even the director’s versions of blockbusters, this movie was his attempt at getting an Oscar.

It was  _ good _ . It really showed the pain of war, both from the major villages, and the smaller ones caught in their way. It showed the devastation left behind when the major villages had moved out, with Rain civilians struggling to survive in a devastated country.

One of those civilians was a blue haired woman with a flower in her hair, who had a short, non-speaking roll where she ran from a shinobi who had been maddened by the carnage and was cut down.

What.

I sat in my seat, frozen, staring at the screen.

It couldn’t be, could it? I know the film crew had gotten extras from Rain, but – why would she participate? Apart from the fact that it was an adaptation of her old Sensei’s novel…okay, maybe I could see why. But if Konon was in the movie…was Pain?

I paid closer attention to the extra’s as the movie continued and – yes! There, a beggar, old and gaunt and kneeling in the street, hopeless and red haired, with a blindfold. He was only in a few shots, but it had to be him.

I sat frozen through the rest of the movie, thinking. There had to be a way to use this. As the movie ended and the credits started rolling I clapped mechanically with the rest of the crowd, and watched – yes. There. The name ‘Konan’, as Civilian Woman 5. And just below, credited as Blind Beggar – Nagato Uzumaki.

Uzumaki.

I grabbed Sasuke’s arm and gestured to the screen, and whispered at him to turn on his sharingan for a moment, and felt when he stiffened in shock. So he’d seen Nagato’s last name too.

So, we had that. Had the name of one of Naruto’s last living clan members, and the knowledge that he was in Rain – and nobody else knew that the emaciated man who had so easily played a disabled beggar was actually the leader (or at least, the apparent leader) of Akatsuki.

Now, I mused, getting up and snagging Kakashi-sensei to come along with me and Sasuke back to the hotel room, the question was…What was I going to do about it?


End file.
